


a song worth singing

by Nagiru



Series: collect the stars [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (including Journey's End), Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 16:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19468060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nagiru/pseuds/Nagiru
Summary: From just a temp of Chiswick to the most important woman of the universe.





	a song worth singing

**Author's Note:**

> I intended to post the story with Martha, actually, but I'm still quite unsure about _that_ one. So, instead, have Donna!
> 
> Donna was one of the last companions I ever met, tbh (the order I watched DW was kind of strange), but I like her very much, so I hope I did her well.  
> Sorry it's such a short story, hope it's good, anyway.
> 
> As always, Doctor Who and the characters do not belong to me.

_I want to sing a song worth singing_

_I'll write an anthem worth repeating_

_I want to feel the transformation_

_The melody of reformation._

\- "One", Sleeping At Last

* * *

Just a human. Just a _temp_. Not smart. Not different. Not any _special_.

Yet here she was. Standing before him. Grinning like a maniac and demanding to go with him, because she had changed her mind.

A woman, just a _normal human woman_ , and he had stumbled across her twice.

… or it might be more accurate to say that she happened upon him twice. Because one had to give credit where it was worth it, and Donna Noble might be just a temp, but she was a real _force of nature_.

Enough to bow-beat him into _saving someone, just someone_ , even when they were faced with a Fixed Point. Enough to stand by his side even when a prophecy of his demise was foretold (not that he supposed she _understood_ that bit. She was brilliant, she was, but Donna was not… the smartest of the bunch, he had to admit). Enough to impress _Martha Jones_.

_(And smart enough to realize what he did to his friends. To everyone to travelled with him. Though, unfortunately, not smart enough to get away when she still had the chance.)_

She was beautiful and strong and _amazing_. She was amusing and cheerful and so _marvellously human_. She was hopeful. Brilliant. Headstrong. She was good enough to want to save everyone they stumbled across — a newly born daughter and _fat_ included —, and tough enough to face off against the most dangerous parts of his life without ever backing out.

She was… _different_. She was everything he had first thought her _not_ to be — she was smart, strong, different, brilliant, _so very special_. She _was_ just human, but she was so much _better_ for that. She was…

She was a giant.

And she was going to stay with him forever. As always.

He should have seen it coming. Should have realized from how _good_ they were to each other. From how _alive_ she made him feel. From how well she fit with him.

He loved her, after all, and that, he had learned, should never happen. As soon as he loved something…

_(a name that should never be known and cries in his mind, echoing forever)_

Well. It never ended well for those he loved. Never ended well for those he cared for. Never ended well for his friends, his family, the ones he took as _his_.

And Donna Noble — brave, _fiery_ Donna Noble —, she was his. His best mate. His… _Earth Girl_. She was the humanity he had tried to toss away, and she was the heart he seemed to lack, even when he had two of those.

She was… the mother of his human half. She was the… the _most important woman in the universe_.

She was… Doctor-Donna. The best Doctor in the whole of eternity, if one were to ask him.

_(the only one who lived up to their name, really. The only one who **saved** instead of destroying. The only one who brought **hope** , and not despair. A Human-Doctor, and all the more brilliant for it)_

And she was _mortal_. _Human_. A giant brought down to the ground. And he… he was _too much_. He was… larger than life, it seemed at times. He was… fire and destruction. He was…

~~An Oncoming Storm. Death.~~

He was the end of everything.

She rewrote the universe to save him, and she gave life to the best half of him, and she took the Daleks, the worst of his enemies, and made them _puppets_ , and she _laughed through it all_. Because she never intended any harm to _anyone_.

And, for all that, she burned. To a destiny worse than death, she’d say.

_(“Please,” she’d begged. “I was going to stay with you forever.”)_

He was still too much a coward to let her get what she wanted.

_(he was still too selfish to ever let go of things he should)_

**Author's Note:**

> I put at the beginning of the story, but, for those who've missed it, the title comes from "One", by Sleeping At Last.
> 
> I'll edit Martha's story ("Bodies born to heal") at some point, and likely post it. And finish Amy's.  
> I intend to write one story to each of the companions from 2005 onwards, including Captain Jack, River, Mickey and Missy. Let's see how that goes...


End file.
